There is a t-shirt that says "Born in Maine, Living in Exile." I lived in "exile" (actually a very nice place) for 32 years, and returned to Maine in 2005. That's not necessarily what all this is about, just the only title I could think of at the time.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Friday Five: PJs

Sophia at RevGalBlogPals posted a cute video and suggested:

"Without going to TMI land, share with us your sleepwear memories and preferences...." Well, I wanted to post a cute video too, but the song that came to mind was Anne Hills' One Thousand Pairs of Pajamas, from the wonderful Priscilla Herdman album Moondreamer. You can acquire it here, or if you just want to hear the song, you can go here, scroll down to Friday, November 19, 2004, and either listen to a lot of other good stuff or skip ahead to about 7:40. So, without further ado and whilst listening to Garrison Keillor (get well soon Gar!) talking about the Gettysburg Address (Nov. 19, 1863), here are my answers on the topic of nightwear:

1. What was your favorite sleeping attire as a child? And did you call them pjs, pajamas (to rhyme with llamas), pajamas (to sort of rhyme with bananas), jammies, or ???I think I have one or two pictures of myself in pajamas as a small child, but my memory is that by the time I went to school I normally wore a nightgown. I don't recall calling it a nightie either. I think maybe my brothers had pajamas, to rhyme with llamas.

2. Favorite sleepwear put on your own little ones, or perhaps those you babysat? (Bonus points if you made it).Well, I certainly don't get any bonus points here. My mother made a lot of our clothes, but I actually can't recall whether she made nightwear. I'd say my favorites for my kids were the feety pajamas (we did live in Minnesota after all) -- for some years at Christmas they got matching or coordinating ones. The last time for that was when SonShineIn was about 11 and the girls were 5 and 10 years younger -- he got a "manly" dark brown like a teddy bear and the girls' pajamas were pink.

3. How about today-do you prefer nightgown, pajamas, undies, or au naturel?Still nightgown, although I do have a few pairs of pajamas.

4. Silky smooth or flannel-y cozy?In winter, flannel or that brushed stuff that's a little lighter than flannel is my favorite. In summer, my preference is for light, smooth cotton, but that's not always easy to find so lightweight jersey has to be part of the mix.

5. Socks or bare feet?

After nearly 60 years of sleeping in bare feet, I've occasionally worn socks in winter, since the dog ate my slippers. It still feels wrong, though.

And, since this is the song that comes to mind whenever I hear "Pajamas," here's a short clip from someone's high school production of The Pajama Game, with the opening song: